Parenthood & More

For The Teacher Who Taught Me How To Teach!

It was my first day at my teachers’ training college where I was pursuing my degree in education. After the customary address by our principal entered a lady wearing a beautiful organza saree. She was 5 feet tall, short hair has a very petite body frame. Her face had acne and spots. She could easily pass off as a teenager if she wouldn’t have been wearing a saree and a demeanour of person in authority.

While the class of 120 students varying from an age group of 23 years to 35 years was wondering who she was, she introduced herself as Ms Sona – our lecturer of Educational Technology and Management.

There was hooting in the classroom. I thought this young teacher is going to have a tough time controlling such an unruly class. I was shocked that how students who are training to be teachers could demonstrate such behaviour in class. But Ms Sona kept her cool. She didn’t utter a word, neither did she show any expression of feeling intimidated by such classroom behaviour. She was neither frustrated and she was in complete control of her class in a matter of few seconds.

Once the hooting died down, she listed her educational qualifications. She was younger than most of her students and was a Gold Medalist in Mathematics and Education. This revelation was enough for most of us to be impressed. She had a loud, clear and stern voice. While all the female students of the classroom were supremely in awe of this young lady, most men had second thoughts of their own qualifications. It was the first and the last day in the entire year when there was any kind of hooting or noise in her classroom. The class knew they had to listen to her if they are here to learn and to get trained as teachers. That was how Ms Sona made her first impression on us.

Her body frame was petite and she didn’t have the physical personality of a teacher but her capabilities as a teacher trainer were exemplary. Her classroom management capability along with her subject knowledge made each of her 120 students her very obedient and disciplined students.

We would fear to attend her class if we were unprepared. She was a strict taskmaster. Immediately on entering the classroom, she would revise the topics covered a day before and shoot questions to us. If we didn’t know the answer we had to be prepared to be humiliated. But that rarely happened after the first month as she made sure we all went prepared to the classroom each day. Now her looks didn’t matter. Her stature as a teacher was much larger than her body frame or her looks.

She motivated me a lot during my training and praised my efforts. I still regret not acting on her advice to me to pursue a master degree in education. It’s only because of her style of teaching that I scored the highest in her subject. All through my school or college days, I haven’t worked as hard as I have while training to be a teacher. Amongst all the mark sheets over the years, this is the one which has passed with Distinction written on it. And its all thanks to Miss Sona.

During my internship which I took up in the school I studied, my teachers would sit in my classroom while I would teach. They wanted to see me handle a class of 60 students. They couldn’t imagine me having control over 16 and 17-year-old students because I had never shown such confidence while I was their student. Thus I am most grateful to Ms Sona for teaching me how to be confident and be strong in my subject to have complete control over the class.

During my teaching days, I tried my best to emulate her. She is a teacher whom I have admired the most. She focused more on her capabilities rather than her physical appearance and beauty.She didn’t let her short height and skin spots overpower her strengths as a teacher.

Ms Sona is in a true sense, ‘Beauty With Brains’!

Author’s Note: This article is a part of blog campaign ‘TRUE BEAUTY’ being hosted by Naturals Salon in association with Women’sWeb. Starting off with 1 salon to over 650 salons across India, all it took was one woman’s passion to empower 300+ women to become entrepreneurs over the past 16 years. Because there is no better style statement than standing on your own feet.

I believe every woman has TRUE BEAUTY within her in all the roles she plays.

For over 18 years across 650 plus salons across the country, Naturals has been helping the Beautiful Indian Woman get more Beautiful.

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Published by Aesha

I am a mommy blogger who loves to read, write and travel. I am a teacher by qualification and a blogger by profession. Aesha’s musings is all about my experience as a mother , daughter, wife, friend, companion , partner in crime and each of that facet that all of us will identify with. So feel free to share your experiences , opinions & a lot of motivational inputs !
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